The story opens in pre-Taliban Kabul, Afghanistan. The protagonist, Amir, is recalling events from his childhood. He lived a lavish life with his father, Baba, and their servant, Ali and his son Hassan. Hassan and Amir grew up together and were almost like brothers, however Ali and Hassan belonged to the religious minority group, the Shias, and Baba and Amir, Sunni Muslims, superior. The different religious sects made it difficult for the boys to be real friends, despite their many character similarities and personal connection to one another. Hassan and Amir had a lot in common, such as the fact that they both grew up without a mother. Though they were raised with different beliefs, they were brought up together, and spent their entire childhoods making memories with each other.…
I believe the source of Amir’s power is in his ethnicity because he was born in a higher class. I also believe that Hassan had some power since he was the son of Baba. Throughout the book, you can see that Hassan had lived a plight free life. Amir would always scoff at Hassan about literature even though Hassan is unschooled. Hassan always stayed loyal although I would think he would feel animosity towards Hassan. I also think that Hassan’s passive ways have power over Amir. Amir hates that he cannot undo what he did, or have Hassan deal the same pain unto him. This makes Amir feel bad because he knows that he has hurt Hassan. While Hassan doesn't hurt Amir back, Amir is handling things in a pragmatic way. Amir’s goal was to get rid of Hassan.…
Amir is very selfish and only does things for his own benefit. He did not have the courage or strength to step in and save his friend in the alley from Assef. He made the choice to betray his friend. As Hassan stood his ground in the alley and chooses to honor his promise to Amir and return the kite to him, Amir stood silent at the end of the alley and watched the beating and rape of his friend Hassan. The following quotation emphasizes how Amir is unworthy of Hassan’s loyalty: “I had one last chance to make a decision. One final opportunity to decide who I was going to be. I could step into that alley, stand up for Hassan – the way he’d stood up for me all those time in the past – and accept whatever would happen to me. Or I could run. In the end, I ran.” (82). Amir’s betrayal continues, as he later decides that he no longer wants Hassan and his father in the household, so he decides to set up Hassan and accuse him of stealing. “I went downstairs, crossed the yard, and entered Ali and Hassan’s living quarters by the loquat tree. I lifted Hassan’s mattress and planted my new watch and a handful of Afghani bills under it.” (110). Amir betrays Hassan by trying to have his friend fired for stealing. Hassan took the blame to keep Amir out of trouble. This…
After Amir wins the competition, Hassan goes to retrieve his kite, when he then gets into a brawl with Assef and his two other boys. When Amir goes to find Hassan, he sees how he is getting abused by Assef and decides not to do anything about. He thought to himself, “I could step into that alley, stand up for Hassan- the way he’d stood up for me all those times in the past- and accept whatever would happen to me. Or I could run” (Hosseini 77). In the end, Amir decided to run because he was a coward and only thought of the best for himself, not Hassan. Readers uncover irony within this section of the novel. In order for Hassan not to be raped, he had to give Assef Amir’s kite, which Hassan knew would help boost Amir and Baba’s relationship. So Hassan, being a great friend, sacrifices himself, just so that Baba can be proud of Amir for once. After the rape, Amir and Hassan become distant from one another. When the two are face-to-face, Amir wishes Hassan would punish him. For instance, he pelts Hassan with the pomegranates, because he wants Hassan to hit him back. Punishment, Amir feels, would at least begin to make up for the way he wronged Hassan. Hassan, however, will not retaliate, and that became the greatest torment for Amir. Since Amir is still filled with the guilt of leaving Hassan to be raped in the alleyway, he decided he has to put an end to this. Seeing Hassan everyday was a constant reminder of his wronged actions. So, Amir went into Hassan’s living quarters, lifted his “mattress and planted [his] new watch and a handful of Afghani bills under it”, which made Baba believe Hassan stole all those items (Hosseini 104). Baba begs for Ali and Hassan to stay with them, but Ali makes the final decision that it would be best if they…
As I read pages 77-78, even though I didn’t like it, I found out why Amir didn’t do anything to help Hassan. All his life, he wanted to make his father proud, and he knew with the blue kite he would accomplish that. This part of the book is similar to a window. I was looking into Amir’s hardest decision in life and why he did what he did. Through Amir’s eyes, Baba’s praise was more important than Hassan’s safety. It gave me a view of hardships I never (and hope to never) experience. Hassan was put into a situation just because his job is to serve and protect Amir. It also showed me the ending of an amazing friendship. Therefore, because of Amir’s cowardliness and selfishness, his relationship with Hassan designagrated.…
From the start and through his death, Hassan remains the same: loyal, forgiving, and good-natured. Hassan grew up with a very particular role in life. He prepares Amir’s breakfast and collects his books while Amir gets ready for school. Rather than going to school as well, Hassan stays and helps his father, Ali, get groceries and complete their chores. Instead of receiving his education, he stays home and lives as a servant to those richer than he. Hassan learns early on in life that it is his duty to sacrifice himself for others. As a result of growing up this way, Hassan is not prone to envy and is even happy with the way he lives; the life he has. Even after a traumatic, violent past, he remains innocent from the beginning and to the end of his life. There is no way for Hassan to become ‘good again’ because he had never been bad. Hassan’s ability to suffer without becoming bitter, his integrity, and what his character truly shows us that there is no way for him…
Sanaubar’s is Hassan’s mom and she left Hassan and Ali after a week Hassan was born…
In the book "The Kite Runner" Amir and his father escape from Afghanistan before the Taliban can get them. Amir is happy to be in America because he longs for peace from what had happened to Hassan. Yet, he cannot escape the events that had happened that changed his life. He is still an insomniac and he carries guilt over not standing up against Assef when he was raping Hassan.…
While Hassan is kite running for Amir, Amir betrays him. Hassan is doing a favor for Amir, and Amir allows him to be violated. At the beginning of the novel, Hassan is kite running for Amir, and Hassan gets raped while Amir watches and chooses to do nothing.…
The narrative starts very fragmented and disjointed as Amir Flits in and out of consciousness. This is reflected presented by the continued use of short sentences and paragraphs, the broken narrative could also show Amir’s detachment from reality.…
Chapter 4 Summary: Colin and Hassan stop at a rest stop, and Hassan has bad breath so he wants to get some toothpaste. Then Colin try’s to tell Hassan the proper term for bad breath, but Hassan does not want to hear it. Colin begins to think about the first time he and Hassan met. It was in tenth grade calculus when Colin asked the teacher to go to the bathroom because his eyelash was stuck in his pupillary sphincter, once he came back Hassan talked to Colin and told him if he kept on saying things like pupillary sphincter then people will think he is weird, and that’s how they became friends. Once they get back on the road Colin keeps on thinking about Katherine, and how he was going to take her to Paris.…
He outlasts everyone, and ends up winning. Hassan goes to chase down their opponent’s fallen kite, but meets his and Amir’s nemesis, Assef. Amir goes to find Hassan, and when he does, he discovers that Assef and his cronies are sexually abusing Hassan. Instead of saving Hassan, he sits and watches, reasoning that “nothing was ever free”, and that “Hassan was the price [he] had to pay” to get the kite (Hosseini 77). This is most definitely a betrayal of Hassan. No one can pretend that Amir got scared and ran because he actually consciously thought about what he was doing. The fact that Amir reasoned with himself to justify that what he was doing was right further amplifies the seriousness of this betrayal. Amir also says that Hassan is the “price”, as if he is a tradable object. This further enhances Amir’s image that he is superior to Hassan. He even reasons with himself, and says that “he’s only a Hazara”, as if that justifies anything. After Amir gets home, he comes back to Baba, holding the kite, having finally won him over. Amir walks into Baba’s open arms, “...and in his arms, [he forgets] what [he’d] done” and he is glad about it (79). This…
Intro: In The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini uses the motifs of guilt, lies and Kites to show the audience how important it is to cherish culture but at the same time, stay true to those you love. With each motif he adds specific examples of these elements in Afghan culture and teaches the audience about human nature. Purpose: The purpose of this novel was to educate and inform the reader on the post and current issues Afghanistan faces and has faced as well as what the author has been through.…
I believe this was the turning point in Amir’s life. Even after the sexual assault to Hassan, Amir never acknowledged the incident to Hassan or provided support to Hassan. This one choice changed his life forever, confirming what his father had stated, “A boy who won’t stand up for himself becomes a man who can’t stand up to anything” (Hosseini, 2003, p. 20). Throughout the book, I wanted Amir…
In the alley, when watching transfixed as Hassan is tortured and humiliated by Assef, Amir opts to “[run]. [He] ran because he was a coward. [He] was afraid… maybe Hassan was the price [he] had to pay, the lamb [he] had to slay, to win Baba”. Knowing full well that Hassan would have gone to any length to protect Amir, for his perpetual loyalty never faltered, Amir fails to help the one who was always by his side in his time of need. For purely egocentric and self-protective reasons, and the fleeting gain of Baba’s attention, Amir betrays Hassan in an appalling manner, severing the ties of allegiance and brotherhood once holding them together.…